Catching Fire Without Peeta
by HorseLoverKT
Summary: Have you ever wondered what wold happen if Katniss came home alone? How would she cope with the nightmares? Will she and Gale get together? On hiatus. I'm sorry! Read AN Chapter 5
1. Prim

Katniss smiles automatically when she sees Gale. She runs out of the train and leaps into his arms. He swings her around and she laughs. I tilt my head to the side. They are a perfect couple. Plus, if they get married, I can have brothers. I always wanted brothers. I step forward and Gale sets my sister down and she lifts me up.

"I came through with my promise, didn't I, Prim?" she said and kissed my forehead. She gently hugs Mother and then we are all sobbing. I don't know why. We just sob and sob. Then Gale and Mrs. Hawthorne gently push us toward Victor's Village. The camera crew follows us. We reach Number 9 and Katniss stops crying when we see the crowd waiting for us. Madge and the mayor are in the front. The rest of Gale's family is right behind them. There are a bunch of little girls that rush forward and give Katniss little daisies. She expertly weaves them into her braid and thanks to them. They skip down the road. Katniss then walks up to Madge. They hug and Madge gives Katniss the key of the house. She smiles widely and unlocks the door.

The door is oak. The house is maple. The inside is oak-paneled walls and tiles. I drop to my knees and feel them. "The tiles are heated!" I squeal. Katniss runs into the kitchen and flings the cabinets open.

"Food, food, and more food." she says quietly. Mother runs into the living room and feels the chairs.

"Velvet!" she exclaims. This is the most happy I have seen her in years. I give her a big hug and then she looks over my shoulder at something. She releases me and takes my hand. She drags me into the kitchen where we grab Katniss and we all sprint up the stairs. There are 5 doors. 3 of them are on the left and 2 on the right. Katniss opens the first one on the left. It is a lovely bedroom. I cry out in joy. I run and jump on the big bed. There is a casement window in the east. There must be beautiful sunrises. Everything in this house is beautiful. I keep jumping and jumping. Katniss and Mother are standing in the doorway. Then Katniss laughs and jumps on the bed with me. Suddenly, she grabs my hand and we plop down on the silky bedspread.

"Do you want this room, Rue-I mean, Prim?" A pained look flashes in her eyes. She is thinking of the Games. She is thinking of Rue. I hated watching her die. She would've been my friend, if she was in District 12. She was so much like me. I hug Katniss.

"Yes," I whisper.

She lets go and says, "Well, maybe you should see the rest before choosing. We go to the next room on the left. It is a large bathroom. The next door is a small storage room. On the right, the last door in the hallway is opened and Katniss shrieks. The bed in the middle is a four-poster with green sheets and a brown velvet bedspread. She grabs my hands and we spin in circles. The other room is perfect for Mother. It is cozy with a black and white color scheme. We go downstairs and ask people to help us with our bags. The baker comes out of the crowd. He has streaks on his dusty face. Katniss walks up to him.

"She gently says, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I wanted to save him, I did. I just-the Careers-"

"Do not worry, girl. Just came to say congrats." he says, putting a hand on her shoulder. He then picks up my trunk. "Where does this go?" Then everyone else grabs something. Katniss picks me up and places me on the trunk. I lean my head onto the baker's chest and he laughs, rumbling my head. We then go upstairs and put things away.

When I go to bed, I can only think one thing, 'This is perfect.'


	2. Katniss

Katniss's POV

I wake up early in the morning. I quickly get up and walk over to my new closet. I pull out some loose brown pants, a green sweater and a gray vest. I then walk down the hall towards the stairs. I poke my head into Prim's room and smile. She is curled up in a ball. Today is Sunday. When I hugged Gale yesterday, he put a slip of paper in my pocket. It said to meet him in the woods today. I go downstairs and grab 2 apples from a cabinet. I put them in my game bag and walk outside. The first streaks of sunlight are reaching over the hills in the east. I laugh and run towards the Seam. I run past the people who are on their way to the mines. They all raise their arms in weary greeting. I keep running. When I reach the fence, Gale is leaning against it. I leap at him again. He gives me a big hug and then sets me down.

He looks like he is deciding whether or not to say something, and then decides not to. He climbs over the fence, quick as lightning. Then I crawl under. We run into the woods and towards the clearing that we had met in. That was the place where we catch the most rabbits.

We check all of the twitch-ups and then he finally speaks again. "IT was really hard, not knowing if you would come home or not."

"You knew I was going to come home." I reply simply.

"No, I didn't," he says angrily. He spins around and grabs my shoulders. "What in the world were you thinking, Katniss! You scared the heck out of me! Never ever do anything like that again. When you were with the tracker-jackers? Oh, that was the worst. You could have climbed down and gotten away while that Glimmer girl was asleep. But, no… You had to risk your life. I hate it that you were so... so…"

"So what, Gale?" I say calmly.

"So ready to be killed." he says, ashamed.

"Gale," I say, holding his chin in the palm of my hand. "Look at me. You are so paranoid. If I wouldn't have risked my life, you still would have gotten me home, but in a wooden box. I had to put my life on the line so I could survive. If I would have to try to get away, they would have treed me again, but that time I would probably be stuck. They would have waited until I had run out of food and then shoot me in the night." I let go of his chin. The first tears roll down his cheek. I wipe them away.

"Thing is, Catnip, if you wouldn't have volunteered-" he says shakily.

"Prim would be dead." I say, my voice dropping an octave. "Prim would be dead. I-I might have gone into depression with my mother. How happy would you be then?" It seems I found the mark. He now starts sobbing. I reach my arms around his neck and lean into his hard chest.

We just stand there for a long time. Finally, he pushes me back gently and says, "You're right, Katniss, you always are. Just… just… you scared the heck out of me when you volunteered. Don't do it again."

"I can't, Gale." I say, laughing slightly.

"I know." he says softly and he takes my face in his hands and gently kisses me. This is nothing like the kisses I gave Peeta to shut him up. This kiss actually makes me want more. He releases my face and suddenly gets the look in his eyes that usually means, 'Should I shoot this rabbit, or knife it?' But it could mean anything now.

"Katniss Haley Everdeen," he says, going down on one knee. "Will you marry me?" I gasp he takes a small cardboard box out of his breast pocket and opens it. There is a braided silver ring inside.

"Gale…" I say, breath taken. "Of course I will marry you, but how in the world did you get the ring?"

He twists it gently onto my finger and says, "Amaryllis's mother died while you were gone and her father gave me the ring to give to you." We then intertwine our fingers and run towards the lake to fish. We sit and talk about everything. He tells me what happened while I was gone. I tell him how it felt to watch the Careers rip Peeta away from me and slice his neck in two. He hugs me at this point and we then keep fishing until we have enough for trading and feeding our families.


	3. Gale

Katniss said _Yes! _ I am ecstatic. I am almost bouncing when we reach the Hob. "Katniss is back! We have squirrels, fish, rabbits, and greens!" I call. Immediately all heads snap up.

Some of the girls from the Seam that hang around and gossip run over and hug her. "Katniss! Katniss! Katniss!" they chant. I put a hand on her back and I steer her over to Greasy Sae.

"Katniss! There's something that a boy left for you." Sae said, reaching into a pocket of her apron. She pulls out a small wrapped package. Katniss grabs it and unties the small twine knot. I look angrily over her shoulder.

Who has the nerve to give her something! She's mine! I made that clear to the others at school after she won. I still remember that day…

"_Hey! I bet you 5 loaves of baker bread that Katniss will pick me!" sneered Lachlan, a boy who had gone out with almost every girl in school. The only two he hadn't gone out with were the smartest. Katniss and Madge._

"_Nu-uh. She's already married. I forget his name… Gabe?" said a small girl named Daisy. Now I was gripping my desk with all my strength so that I wouldn't punch them all. When we all spilled out of the building at the end of the day, I found Daisy and Lachlan still arguing._

"_She's already-" Daisy whined. I cut her off._

"_She is already taken. She is married yet but she will be soon. Lachlan," his name left a bad taste in my mouth. "If you go near her…"_

"_What. What will happen if I go near her?" Lachlan said, walking into my personal space. I took advantage of that and grabbed his collar._

"_Leave, Daisy." I growled. She immediately scurried toward her home near the edge of the Seam. "Lachlan, if you so much as talk to her before the ring is on her finger, you will be sorry." I dropped him and showed him the insides of my game-bag. There was an arrangement of knifes and arrows in there. He scurried backwards and crashed into a fence._

"_Just so we understand each other." I mutter and flip the cover back over the bag._

Inside the package was an envelope. Katniss sliced it open and read,  
"Dearest Katniss:

I hope this gets to you. My brothers are not very reliable. I'm probably dead right now, but I want you to know. I love you more than anything. Please accept my gift. Even though I know that you are with Gale, I am glad as long as you are.

Forever Yours,

Peeta Mellark" Katniss dumped the envelope and I saw the first tear fall. She held out the necklace for everyone to see. It was gold with these words inscripted on it: If you put pressure on coal, it turns to pearls. There was a pendant hanging from it and it had two pearls on it. One was black, one was white. Underneath the black one, there was Peeta's name. Underneath the white one, Katniss's name was etched.

I now know how she feels. She feels that she is responsible for Peeta's death, even though she couldn't have saved him. I hug her tightly and help her put the necklace on. Once it's on, she calms down a bit. Now she's simply having tears run down her cheeks.

"Katniss, do you want to go home and I'll do the trading?" I ask gently, pulling her hands from my t-shirt and carefully lifting her bag off her shoulders. "I'll hold the ring for now. I want to be there when your mom finds out. Dinner? Tonight?"

She nods quickly and runs off towards Victors Village, tucking the necklace into her shirt as she goes.


	4. Mrs Hawthorn

My son is almost bouncing as he comes in the door behind me.

My son.

Gale.

Bouncing.

Rory takes this as food. "Hey-Hey-Hey! Gale! Did you get venison for us!" he says, jumping into Gale's arms.

Gale laughs. "No, silly! We're going over to Katniss's house for dinner. She invited us over."

Katniss.

The girl for whom Gale skipped school to watch the Games. The girl who was the reason that my Gale didn't leave the District. The girl who I count as my own daughter, along with many other of the ladies in the Seam. She thinks that no one likes her, but her smiles, while rare, are beautiful. She is truly her father's daughter.

Lachlan.

Katniss's father was killed in a mine explosion that also killed my husband.

"That can't be the _only_ reason you're happy, Eldest Son." I sing, pulling Rory away from Gale so that I can take the game bag. He slips the bag from his shoulders and shrugs.

Posy skips in the back door, spouting words like a water fountain. "Guess what! Prim still goes to school, though Katniss doesn't. I asked Madge." she bubbles. I laugh and lift her into my arms.

"Of course she'll come to school, Hummingbird. She'll come _just _for you, if you want."

"Oh, yes, Mother! I want her to come to school even if she's like Katniss and goes into the Games like Katniss." Posy zooms into the bedroom the two of us share.

Posy so young. She doesn't quite understand the Games. She thinks that they just take the people away and fix them up and keep them in the Capitol. Her dream is to be a victor like Katniss.

I am scared-no-_terrified_ for the day that she realizes that these Games aren't games. They are serious punishments. There are _reasons_ why people cry when they get reaped. And those reasons aren't happy reasons.

I follow Posy into the bedroom, calling back to the boys, "Get your brother from Hunter's house and get them all ready for dinner, Gale!" I call. I grab Posy from behind and she shrieks. I plop her into the water basin at the foot of the bed. I scrub her down and wash her hair so it shines. Then I lift her out and redress her in a bright red dress that Prim got for her. Prim adores my daughter. I tie her bouncy curls back into a ribbon as the boys walk out of their room. I give Gale the comb and he slicks his brothers' hair down and holds Posy so she won't dirty her dress at the same time. I quickly slip back into my room and wash my hair. I don't have time to scrub.

When I come out of the bedroom, Posy giggles and Gale smiles. "You got a new dress?" he laughs. I spin, the stiff tartan puffing up like a dream cloud around me.

"Mrs. Everdeen gave it to me. Come now, if we're going to get there in time, we have to go now. Come on, boys."

We file out the small kitchen door into the street. We hear a roar and Posy screams. Gale puts hands on his brothers' shoulders and we all take a step back.

"Hello, Mrs. Hawthorn and Co." shouts a man from the street corner. The roar dies down and we pear through the night fog to see a… a…

A car! Katniss has sent us a car. The boys race down the street and dive in. Gale takes Posy and walks (way more cleanly) into the car. A squat Peacekeeper opens the front door and helps me in. We all settle into the luxury sedan and I reach back, taking Posy.

"Where to, m' lady?" the Peacekeeper says all gentlemen-like.

"Number Nine, please. Victor's Village." I respond equally as politely. The car roars to life again and we zoom off through the mist towards the sunset.


	5. I'm So SORRY AN

I'm so sorry people, but my stories for the Hunger Games and Percy Jackson fandoms are being shut down for a little bit. You might notice I am writing 10 stories right now and my life is going nuts. I'm failing Spanish, I found out that I have minor ADHD, and I need to study for a test that will let me be in Geometry in eighth grade, instead of needing to be a sophomore to take the class. I need to get a 90% on this test or higher because I CAN'T repeat algebra. Not happening, peoples. So again, I apologize for the inconvenience and the need for a chapter that is purely a AN (I hate these in other stories). As soon as I start writing these stories again, this will be deleted. Thanks for understanding (I hope).

KT

AmyHeartsIan


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